Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Here is an article about mineralization during aerobic vs anaerobic conditions.

go to page 50

http://edepot.wur.nl/121646

ok been a while since I updated here well this is an updated after 10 days.
amm 0.25 ppm
nitrite 1ppm
nitrates 20ppm.

I'm getting an increase in nitrite due to additional load on ammonia introduction into my system from the RFF filter. but other than that my water nutrients seems to be increasing.. lol its been a when since I saw algae but they arw blooming atm. o well all old tomato trees were removed and fruits stored.. got close to 80 pounds in total from everything. but on to the next crop. will the cucumber plants from previous photos started flowering after 10 DAYS and fruits are already forming. I cdn count bout 5 fruits in one plant already. bitter mellon is starting to vine and everything got alot greener and healthy looking. o well to pics I go.





















happy growing... stay tuned for more.

whats that pic with the gravevine like leaves?

Thanks for the wood ash tip - been using with high success the last month

Cookie i have made potassium carbonate from wood ash and just started using it,i will update as i go along,great tip cookie.....

Jayendra the grapevine like leaves is Bitter Mellon or Karilie as it is called locally... I'm here to give as much info as I find out.

Looks great cookie

Cookie, are you worried about your distribution pipes with the "dead ends". I know I have a few of those on my system, and they need to be flushed out occasionally. Maybe better to tie them back in with more "T's"? Looks nice!

thanks cookie - thats an amazing looking leaf - I heard they are great for diabetics. I've eaten bitter melon quite a bit when I stayed in India at a young age - they deep fry it with batter and salt and pepper.

Yea I know someone will see it. but honestly its not seal off.. I found to wonder technique by mistake to flush out the dead ends.





no GLUE so they pull right off..

ok quick update 8 days later.
ok so before I stated that I was getting Nitrite spikes and all I could to bring it down. but everything I tried only brought it down to 1ppm and as soo as I fed my fishes half even quarter their daily rations.. nitrite shot up to 2-3ppm. I clear our soilds in my RFF which was a lot.. help for a bit then nothing. so I went and check my Ph and it was at 6.4 to 6.6 which is acceptable and amm was 0.25ppm nitrates was 10ppm. so what I decided to do is bump up pH close to 7. the next day I tested for nitrates which shockingly was at a surprisingly high of 80 to 160ppm who ever knew nitrates can spike. nitrite drop to .25ppm and amm was zero. it seems that although ammonia may not be limited by lower ph. nitrite is surely is. Well the last step I took to combat my nitrite probs is removal of the big fishes. Took out bout 50 3-4 pounds fishes yesterday and with that I said good bye to nitrites problems. shocking nitrates drop back to 40ppm. there is soo much to learn in aquaponics. soo much variable to consider... o well pictures time.

























Happy Growing... stay tuned for more.

Did you consider the decaying vegetable roots from your last crop? I found strange things happen when rotating through crops.

I have permanently low PH and high nitrates.

umm didn't consider that but it a very new bed.. only one crop previous to these so I don't kno the impact that will have..

Is that cucumber or zucc's in the last pic, Cookie? Either way its the healthiest Ive seen in an AP system. Nicely done.

its cucumber... trust me its the healthiest I have see as well. its a first for me too.. looking forward to the future of it to see what it turns out to be. thanks for the complements especially from you Charlie

Cookie, your bacteria will be more efficient at a pH of 7. If you would have bumped your ph to 7 before emptying rff, maybe you would have seen a more effective form of denitrification.. This is indeed a strange hobby with millions of variables. I enjoy it though, I am constantly trying to learn from my own and others experience. Keep those updates coming. :-)